


Quite the Coincidence

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Series: Fe!MC/Ryuji named their son Goro and this is their story [4]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Children, Family, Fe!MC, Genderbend, How Do I Tag, Post-Game(s), Reunions, basically Akechi's watching Akira's kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 10:05:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11415618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: When Akira and Ryuji's son gets lost at the mall, it's Akechi to the rescue. The previously presumed dead Akechi.Yeah.That happens.





	Quite the Coincidence

**Author's Note:**

> wow I had no idea how to tag and summarise this IT'S NOT AN ARSEHOLE AKECHI HANGING WITH A KID that's what it is
> 
> Requested by Pan!

He never had quite kicked the habit of being overly suspicious, and feeling someone staring at him was setting off everything about himself that he was trying leave behind. He wasn’t being judged. Probably. He didn’t have to live up to anyone’s expectations. So, Akechi looked up and around for the source of eyes determinedly, and was surprised to find it was a _child_ looking at him. A lone child, in fact, sitting quietly on the bench in the mall, and he looked at Akechi like he was the only person in the world who might help him right now.

Akechi didn’t know why this child would think that, but it didn’t matter. Where were his parents? Why was he alone? Was he lost? He couldn’t just… leave this child like that. His conscience– as though he had a right to one, anymore– wouldn’t let him.

So Akechi walked over to the bench, smiling in what he hoped was an attempt to put the child at ease. “Hi.”

The boy said nothing.

Unsurprising. “Are you okay?” Akechi asked, crouching down to his level.

“… ‘m not supposed to talk to strangers,” the boy murmured. “Mom and Dad says so.”

“That’s a good lesson.” Akechi paused, and then pushed on regardless. “Where are your Mom and Dad? You look a little lonely.”

The boy hesitated. He looked around. And then he looked back at Akechi, worry creeping into his eyes. “I lost them. Will you be my friend? That way, you won’t be a stranger.”

A friend. Akechi smiled, and it was a little self-deprecating. “Sure. You lost your parents? You mean they’re here?”

The boy nodded. “In the store… there were lots of people. I got lost.”

“I see.” That was also unsurprising; the mall was especially busy in time for the upcoming holidays, but it was also concerning. He had a reason to be defensive about parenting. “Can you tell me your name?”

“... Goro.”

The shock went clear down his spine, and it must have brought the same kind of surprise into his eyes. He didn’t… Goro… “Heh.” Maybe there was such a thing as fate. He had never been able to help his childhood and his relationship with his parents. He’d be damned if he let another family get torn apart because of either poor parenting _or_ an unfortunate accident. Regardless of the how or why, he needed to find this boy’s parents, first and foremost. “That’s funny. My name’s Goro, too.”

Goro looked up at him with wide eyes. “Is it?”

That was strange. There was something… something seemed… off. Or maybe _familiar_ was the right term. He knew that he had never met this young boy named Goro before, and yet there was something…  “Yeah, it is. You can call me Akechi, though, if it’s too confusing.”

“Okay… Will you help me find my parents?”

“Of course.” He held out his hand to him. “Guess what?”

Goro took it. “What?”

“I used to be a detective,” he said with an easygoing grin. It still felt as fake as it had years ago, but at least it wasn’t for hiding a much darker secret.

“Really?”

He nodded. “I’m really good at finding things. _And_ people. So we’ll find your parents, don’t you worry.”

Goro nodded. “‘kay.”

“Where did you last see them?”

The parents were not in the last place that young Goro had seen them, also unsurprisingly. The mall being as busy as it was meant that they would have moved on even if they hadn’t noticed their son had ducked away, probably. But if they _had_ noticed, and were good parents, they were probably running through the mall, frantic with worry. Akechi supposed, that was. He didn’t exactly know if parents did that. He thought that they probably did. If they didn’t, they should.

If Akechi had ever had the opportunity to have a son or daughter, he thought he would watch their every move. And he was aware that that was probably almost as bad as neglecting them, so it was probably a _good_ thing he would never be a parent. There was just… it was so… surely he would mess it up. He would like to think he would be better at being a parent than _his_ parents had been, but to be honest, he hadn’t the first idea _how_.

“What if… they’re gone?” Goro whispered, after checking the third shop. “Will I see them again?” He sounded threat to start crying, and Akechi _really_ didn’t know how to deal with that.

“Of course you will, Goro-chan. We’ll keep looking until–”

“Goro!!”

He turned instinctively. That was strange. There was also… there was something he couldn’t put his finger on…

And then he could. It was _Akira_. Akira, and Ryuji close behind her, and Akechi could only _gape_ at them as they came crashing in for the boy.

“Mommy!”

“Oh my God, Goro, I was so scared–”

“Where did you go?!”

“There were people!” Goro wailed, burying his face into his mother’s… _Akira’s_ … chest.

Akira. _Mommy_. And Ryuji… they were the _parents_ … Goro’s… Goro’s _parents_ … what were they… what had he… wait… they hadn’t named…?

“Thank you so much for–” Akira jerked to a halt, finally looking at Akechi as she straightened up with Goro in her arms. “– for…”

She looked at stunned as he felt. She had a good reason.

“… Dude…”  Now Ryuji was staring at him, too.

Akechi swallowed. This wasn’t how he had expected… well, he had never expected to see any of them again… presumed dead and moving on and… he had _missed them_ , even after everything he had done and he didn’t deserve to ease that ache and… here they were. Two people that had become his acquaintances. One person who might have been his friend, even.

“Akechi…”

He wasn’t quite as good an actor as he used to be, but it didn’t matter, just then. His smile was nervous, but genuine. “Hi,” he said softly.

He owed a lot of explanations, but Akira smiled just then, too– just as hesitant– and, in that moment, Akechi thought he might be ready to give them.


End file.
